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Wanderlei bails on drug test; taints his legacy forever

Chael Sonnen was right. In what has seemed like the longest build-up to a grudge match in MMA history, Sonnen called it—Wanderlei Silva would somehow get himself out of the fight. Yesterday that prediction came true. Silva was pulled from the UFC 175 bout due to a couple very troubling issues.

First, Silva failed to submit his application to get his license to fight in Nevada. NSAC Director Robert Bennett assured everyone that this omission was on Wanderlei 100% by saying he had “ample time” to submit the routine application, but didn’t.

In addition to this error, both Sonnen and Silva were selected to undergo random drug tests. Sonnen complied; Silva did not. Sonnen mentioned yesterday that Silva ran away from the officials trying to conduct the drug test.

By refusing to take the drug test, Silva looks like a complete tool. These two have been yapping at each other for several years now and this turn of events makes it appear as though Silva had no intention of fighting Sonnen. What a jackass. I predict he comes out and blames his management for failing to file the paperwork, and a “communication error” for bailing on the drug test.

There’s a good chance the UFC will send Silva on his way for this, and it’s hard to blame them for it.

Now the part that’s ironic as fuck. In Silva’s place will step Vitor Belfort. Remember it was Vitor who was supposed to fight Chris Weidman for the title. Now he’ll be stepping in to face Sonnen on the main card of the same event Weidman headlines against Belfort’s replacement, Lyoto Machida.

This is bizarre. The takeaway here is that Wanderlei Silva successfully transitioned his reputation from lovable fan favorite who never shied away from a fight to something quite the opposite.